Awarded: April 2000
(b. April 16, 1919)

A principal dancer with the seminal Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham has had a long and distinguished career. Often hailed as a “giant of modern dance,” throughout his career Cunningham has pursued his interest in creating abstract dances that accent movement itself. In 1953, he founded the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for which he has created more than 150 works.

Related Library Resources

• View the "The Katharine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress."
• The American Memory Collection features "An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals ca. 1490-1920."
• American Treasures of the Library of Congress presents "The Nature of Dance."